The Diaries of Two Women Driven Insane By Potters
by casually-obsessed
Summary: Read Hermione and Lily's thoughts as they cling onto sanity and their feelings for two messy, ravenhaired boys. LJ, HHr
1. Hermione's First Entry

**Hermione**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _anything_. J.K owns it all.

—

**September 1, 1997**

'_Dear Diary,_

_That sounded terribly cliche. I must come up with something better to start my entries with. But that will do for now._

_I'll introduce myself for formality's sake._

_I, Hermione Jane Granger, being of sound body and a relatively sound mind, have decided to start a diary to keep my intelligent thoughts in_, _and to keep my head from bursting with stress._

_Oh yes, it's very stressful being Hermione Granger. Yes, mostly because I am one of Harry Potter's best friends._

_I mean, I have to constantly keep him from getting into trouble. If it weren't for me he would've accidentally exploded himself in 6th year. Yes I am the wizarding world's hero's savior._

_I deserve a medal._

_But did I _get_ a medal? A gift certificate? A thank you card? A "well done, Hermione"?_

_No. You know what I got?_

_A glare and the title of "Most Meddlesome"_

_Nobody appreciates me. Maybe I should just jump off the Astronomy Tower and get it over with-'_

"You tried that," A voice whispered in Hermione's ear. "And your survival instincts kicked in and you grabbed onto a window ledge screaming bloody murder."

Hermione shrieked and whirled around to face Harry Potter.

"Have you ever heard of this new invention called _privacy_?" She snapped.

Harry just smiled and took a seat next to hers.

"What're you doing in this empty compartment?" he asked.

We were in the Prefect's compartment. It was a large compartment with a wooden table in the middle and comfy seats surrounded the table.

"Waiting for prefects." Hermione said "Which reminds me- Get out."

Harry faked a hurt look.

"Why?"

"This compartment is for the Heads and Prefects only."

Harry grinned and showed her the Head Boy badge hidden underneath his robes.

"For Merlin's sake, Harry, it's not a bloody police badge. Wear it _on_ your robes, not underneath."

"It's more fun this way" Harry said, putting his feet up on the table.

The Prefects were beginning to file in, Ron grinned at Hermione before taking a seat next to Harry.

Hermione cleared her throat for everyone's attention.

The compartment fell silent-

"Haha. I can't believe Dumbledore made _you_ Head Boy."

"That hurts, Ron. Pass me a chocolate frog."

"So... How about the Head Girl?"

"She's in denial-"

"Quiet!" Hermione shouted, flushing.

—

'_In denial? About what? What is there to be in denial about? No. I can't be in denial._

_Oh great._

_Now I'm in denial about being in denial._

_You must think I'm stupid._

_Great. Now even inanimate objects think I'm stupid._

_This is a new low, Hermione-'_

"I don't think you're stupid."

Hermione shrieked.

"Stop doing that!"

'_Damn Potter and his silent-ness'_

"I don't appreciate the fact that you're writing about me while I'm talking to you."

"I wasn't writing about you!"

"I clearly saw your fingers writing a 'P'"

"I could've been talking about... Paul!" Hermione invented quickly. "Wait- Now you can... read fingers?"

"If you want to call it that. And Paul who?"

"Paul... Pineapple?"

Hermione cursed her lack of lying skills.

"There are no Paul Pineapples in Hogwarts!"

"Paul's a muggle! He's my- boyfriend!"

'_Yes. I just admitted to my best friend that I was going out with a muggle named Paul _Pineapple.

_My life just gets better and better.'_

"Oh."

'_Maybe it's not too late to give jumping off the Astronomy Tower another chance._

_Damn my survival instincts.'_

"Writing about _dear_ Paul Pineapple?" Harry asked, coolly.

"What?" Hermione asked, silently laughing at the ridiculous name she managed to invent.

"Never mind."

'_Wait- is Harry jealous?_

_Jealous of an imaginary boy named Paul Pineapple?_

_Interesting.'_

—

Please Review! Any comments are loved. Next Chapter will be Lily's entry and I should have it out soon.


	2. Lily's First Entry

**Lily**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Harry Potter, his friends or anything else you recognize. All of it belongs to J.K Rowling.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, especially Mina, I remember your reviews from my other story! I'm glad you didn't hate the HHr bits with a passion.

So here's Lily's entry!

---

**September 1, 1977**

_Dear Diary,_

_Ugh! That's a _terrible_ way to start entries! You can come up with something better, Evans!_

_Well, I actually can't._

_I bet you're wondering; Who is this insane girl rambling on about trivial things like how to start her diary entries?_

_Well, I'll tell you._

_My name is Lily Evans, I'm 17 and I'm Head Girl at Hogwarts._

_Unless... You're a _muggle_ who happens to have found my diary. In that case, forget I said anything._

_There is no such thing as magic. How dare you even suggest such a thing? You're insane!_

_Hahaha! (Note the forced laugh)_

_And no, before you ask- I will _not_ under any circumstances_ _write about my horrific (and sometimes disturbing) encounters with James Potter._

_Our names just seem _linked_ together. But I can never figure out why. It's not like we're going out or anything (God forbid), we're not even friends! But people just seem to assume that we're going to end up together, and that all our bickering is caused by "sexual tension"_

_Their words, not mine._

_Besides, this diary is to be used to document my intelligent thoughts and James Potter is _not_ intelligent._

_Well, fine, he beat me in Transfiguration once. Once-'_

"Try every year since First Year."

Lily shrieked.

"How many bloody times do I have to tell you _not to do that_?_"_

"Sorry, Lily-flower."

'_That's another thing I hate. I hate it when people associate my name with that flower._ _They automatically assume I must _love_ lilies because my name is Lily! I mean, there's nothing _wrong_ with the flower but you can only get it as a present for so many years before it becomes annoying._

_I can't tell you how many times I've gotten lilies for Valentines Day, Christmas or my birthday!_

_A little creativity never hurt anyone, you know!'_

"If I remember correctly," James said, looking thoughtful. "_I_ was the one who gave you lilies on Christmas, Valentines Day and your birthday."

"Figures."

James shrugged.

"And get out!"

"Why?"

"This is the Heady Boy and Girl compartment and I _know_ you-"

James flashed the Heady Boy badge he was hiding underneath his robes. There was silence and neither of them moved.

"You stole that from Remus." Lily said uncertainly.

James shot her a look that clearly said 'want to bet?'

Thankfully, Remus Lupin walked in at that moment.

Lily ran over to him and grabbed onto his shirt.

"Remus! He stole your Head Boy badge! _You're_ Head Boy! I _know_ you are! He's a lousy badge stealer! Either that or Dumbledore has gone completely insane- Obviously you were the only choice for Head Boy-" She was cut off as Remus stuffed something in her babbling mouth.

"What the-"

"It's chocolate" Remus said, taking a seat next to James "And James _is_, in fact, Head Boy."

Lily felt her world crash down as she stared into Remus' calm face as if it held all the answers to her problems.

"B-but..." Remus took this opportunity to shove another piece of chocolate in her mouth.

'_What is with that boy and chocolate?_

_And more importantly-_

_How did Potter get Head Boy?_

_This defies the laws of physics, for god's sake!_

_Well maybe that's exaggerating just a bit..._

_Let's just say I always thought Dumbledore would make the Giant Squid Head Boy before he even considered Potter._

_I bet Potter made a deal with a dark wizard._ _Yes, that is the only logical explanation._

_What am I going to do?_

_I know!_

_I'll jump off the Astronomy Tower!_

_That plan _never_ fails.'_


	3. Hermione's Second Entry

**A/N: **Sorry for the long gaps between updates. This chapter isn't very good but the next one will be better, I swear.

I also realize I tend to say that a lot.

**Chapter 3**

"You've _got _to be kidding."

"M'lady!" Sir Cadogan exclaimed "My lord."

Harry stared warily at the portrait of the knight and his fat pony.

_"_You two have grown since I last saw you!"

"Gillyweed."

"Grown closwer as well, eh?" Sir Cadogan winked and began nudging his pony until it fell over.

"_Gillyweed._"

"Damned horse..." Sir Cadogan muttered. "Where was I? Ah yes. The dreamy looks... 'accidental' touches and... _glances_-" He looked meaningfully at Hermione.

"Gillyweed, damn you! Gillyweed!"

"Hold your horses..." Sir Cadogan grumbled, bowing down as low as his armor would let him, before finally swinging forward to admit them.

Hermione and Harry quickly clambered in through the portrait hole and found themselves in a warm room trimmed from top to bottom in red and gold. On one side of the room was a far, crackling merrily away in a stone fireplace. Two overstuffed red couches were placed in front of the fireplace with a mahogany table in between them. On the other side of the room were two red armchairs, a wizarding chess table and-

"Bookcases!" Hermione shrieked excitedly, rushing over to the wooden bookcases, running a finger over the books' spines and quickly reading the titles.

"I'm guessing these lead to our dorms..." Harry said, walking over to two spiral staircases.

"I guess we should be getting to bed now..." Hermione said, looking disappointed.

"Night, Hermione"

"Night, Harry."

---

**September 2, 1997**

_'I can't sleep! Not when there are books to be read! They're calling my name!_

_"Hermione read about Hogwarts' History."_

_"Hermione, read about Arithmancy, Charms, Potions, Transfiguration."_

_"Hermione read about how to win Harry over in 10 steps or less."'_

Hermione froze, staring at her last sentence.

'There are books about that?' She thought excitedly.

Hermione paused and stared thoughtfully into the darkness.

"Did I just think that?" She wondered out loud.

"Yes, you did."

"Im not so sure..." She paused, thoughtfully "Maybe I just-"

"No, you did. I heard you."

"If you're sure-"

She stopped. Who was she _talking_ to?

She scrambled off the bed and started searching for the source of the voice.

"Are you the sound of my thoughts being expressed in my surroundings?" She said to her bedroom wall excitedly.

"No, Hermione, I'm Harry standing on top of the bloody toilet seat." The voice responded sarcastically.

"...Are you saying you are or you aren't?" Hermione asked, confused at the voice's use of sarcasm.

The voice paused before saying hesitantly, "Which would please you more?"

"Harry!"

Hermione heard a crash in the bathroom swiftly followed by a string of curses that would make Sirius Black proud.

"How'd you know?"

"If you _were_ my thoughts, you'd be too logical to care about feelings." Hermione said, matter-of-factly.

There was silence on both sides of the wall.

"What're you doing in there?" Hermione asked, praying for a non-pervy answer.

"Something pervy, Hermione" She could _hear_ his eyes rolling.

"Careful, Potter, your eyes might get stuck that way"

"We know each other too well."

"Agreed."

There was shuffling inside the bathroom.

"You better have washed your hands" They said in unison.

She heard the faucet running and Harry grumbling inside the bathroom. She stifled a laugh.

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"Did you really hear what I was thinking?" Hermione asked nervously.

"No. I was using the toilet when I heard you talking to yourself." He paused "I thought it might be fun to mess around with that head of yours."

"You're an arse, Harry"


	4. Lily's Second Entry

**Lily**

A/N: Sorry for the serious lack of updates. I guess I've just been putting off writing until I couldn't put it off any longer. Besides, it's summer so I figured this would be an ideal time to update.

I also didn't want to end up being one of those authors that take _months_ to update.

Also, for anyone who also reads Progress Reports etc. I'll be updating the chapter as soon as I finish editing. I've had the last two chapters written for months know, but they didn't seem good enough to post. But, I honestly can't come up with anything better so I figure a bad update is better than none at all (Right?)

**IMPT: **The next chapter will be the LAST HHr chapter for awhile. After reading DH I just doin't feel like writing HHr anymore. Not to worry though, there WILL BE more Hermione diary entries, but in the meantime I will be focusing on Lily and James. Sorry.

Also, in response to a review; Er... I guess I did go overboard on the acronyms. HHr Harry/Hermione. DH Deathly Hallows.

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and co. belong to J.K. Rowling.

---

It was late at night and Lily and James were patrolling the corridors, looking for any students out of bed, and checking broom closets for snogging couples as part of their new Head Boy and Girl duties.

Predicatably, it was not long after they started patrolling the corridors that they found Sirius Black in a broom closet.

'Sirius, get ou-' Lily stopped and gaped at Sirius. 'Is that... Remus?'

Remus blushed and stumbled out of the broom closet hastily.

James' jaw dropped open. 'Padfoot? Moony?'

'It's not what it looks like!' Sirius said a little too quickly. It was as good as an open confession.

'We've always speculated...' Lily said, looking dumbfounded. 'But... we always thought it was... too obvious...'

James finally seemed to pull himself together and smirked at the two. 'Padfoot and Moony... I'm sure you'll have gorgeous kids together.'

Sirius snorted. 'Well of course. But that's not the point. I assure you, we were doing something completely innocent in that broom closet.'

'What were you doing, Black?' Lily snapped, getting over her previous suprise and reminding herself that _she_ was the authoritative figure in the group.

'Er... well I guess it wasn't completely innocent, but it wasn't sexual either.'

James grin broadened. 'Whatever you say, Padfoot.'

Sirius snorted. 'Prongs, you know I've snogged more girls than you-'

'And apparently more boys as well.'

Remus flushed. 'There was no snogging going on in that broom closet!'

'Well, what _was_ going on in that broom closet?'

'We heard you were going to be patrolling the corridors tonight. The first time as Head Boy and Girl, you see' Sirius said smoothly. 'A moment you'll both remember for the rest of your lives, I'm sure.'

'Sirius decided he would make the night even more memorable' Remus said dryly.

'What were you going to do to us, Black?' Lily said suspiciously.

'Well, we went to the kitchen earlier and stocked up on ammo.'

'Ammo?' Lily's face was growing dangerously red. James backed away from her cautiously, knowing the danger signs.

'Yes, you see, we-'

'Sirius!' Remus said sharply.

'Oh all right. _I_ was going to pop out of the broom closet and throw pineapples at you. Remus was just there for moral support'

'You were going to throw _pineapples_ at us?' Lily snapped. James could no longer tell where Lily's forehead ended and her hair began.

'That huge fruit with the the prickly skin?' James looked shocked. 'We could've gotten seriously injured, Padfoot!'

'Yeah,' Sirius said laughing 'It would've been great. Too bad you caught us.'

James glanced nervously at Lily. It seemed she had reached her boiling point. He covered his ears and braced himself for the shout he knew was coming.

'BLACK!'

---

Once Lily was done shouting punishments and death threats at Sirius, Lily and James resumed the rest of their patrolling.

Lily refused to make conversation with James, most likely blaming him for Sirius' attempt at murder.

When they had reached the 7th floor, James decided to try and force Lily into having a decent conversation with him. However, he could not think of anything that both of them would want to talk about.

'Er... I guess there's no chance of you liking Quidditch, then?' James said, chuckling feebly.

Lily shot him a withering glare and the chuckle died on his lips.

James looked at her thoughtfully.

'You know, you've been to every single one of Gryffindor's Quidditch games, so you can't hate the game _that_ much.'

Lily looked at him in disbelief.

'How do you-'

James grinned sheepishly. 'Just before every game, I go outside and search the stands for you.''

Lily stopped walking and was openly gaping at him.

James laughed and nervously ran a hand through his hair.

'Whether you like it or not, Lily, you're my goodluck charm.' He said softly, his hazel eyes boring into Lily's green ones.

Lily opened and closed her mouth in hopes of forming words.

'I haven't lost a single game since you became my goodluck charm, either.' He added as an afterthought.

'Er...' Lily said, still unsure of how to respond to his confession.

Then her instincts kicked in. Her instinct was screaming for her to start running as fast and far away as possible.

Still, she did not want to leave James so hastily and rudely, after he had just admitted what was probably an embarassing secret to her.

'I'm... I... I'm going to go check the Astronomy Tower' Lily said lamely, still staring into his eyes.

She thought she saw disappointment there as she walked away.

---

**September 2, 1976**

'_Has the world gone insane? Did I somehow get sucked into an alternate universe where crooks chase cops and James Potters are polite, mature, and even _tolerable?

_Don't get me wrong. The change is a welcome one. (Merlin knows I've nagged him to change his attitude on countless occasions)._

_It just feels... unnatural._

_Wait. What is this? Am I _falling_ for James?_

_No. I can't be-'_

Lily stopped, her quill still poised over her diary. She sighed and walked over to the ramparts, looking up at the starry sky.

The stars shone brightly, looking almost within reach, as if they were mocking her.

She pushed herself up and sat on the ramparts, swinging her legs whimsically.

Did she like James? Had she finally fallen for his charm?

She couldn't help but feel slightly hypocritical. She had been the self-proclaimed anti-Potter. She had been so sure she was the only girl who was impervious to James' charm.

'No one's safe from James' charm.' She thought wryly to herself.

She couldn't help but wonder if James' feelings actually were genuine. He had proclaimed his love for Lily on countless occasions, sure, but she had never taken him seriously.

But after tonight...

Lily sighed and burried her face in her hands, a billion thoughts running through her mind.

'Lily!'

The loud shout startled her and she jumped. Unfortunately, her bottom missed the ramparts by inches and she fell off the Astronomy Tower with a loud scream.

'_Lily!'_

Lily's robes flew up, obscurring her view. She blindly pushed her hands up against the castle's stone walls, hoping to grab onto something.

Thankfully, her fingers caught a window ledge.

She looked up and saw James peering over the battlements nervously.

'Help me, James!' She screamed up at him.

That snapped him back to reality.

'D-did you just call me James?' He asked hesitantly.

'Does it matter, Potter?'

'I... I guess not...' He said sounding disappointed. Nevertheless, he drew his wand from his pocket. '_Accio brooms!_'

'Potter, you moron!' Lily screamed.

A dozen brooms had broken out of the Quidditch Equipment Shed and were now flying towards a very confused James.

'Auugh!' He screamed as the brooms fell on top of him.

Lily stiffled a giggle.

'Potter?'

'Coming, Lily!' he shouted back, getting on a broom and kicking off the ground. He flew over the battlements and dived down to where Lily was holdng onto a window ledge.

James helped her onto the broom then flew back up to the Astronomy Tower, with Lily clinging onto him.

After he had landed safely on the tower, James tried to turn around and look at Lily properly when he realized she was stilling holding onto his waist rather tightly, her eyes still shut, as if she was bracing herself for a crash.

'Erm... Lily?' She opened one eye hesitantly. 'We've... landed.'

'Oh!' She let go of him quickly, blushing.

'Let me see your hands.' James said quietly taking her hands in his.

Lily felt her face grow hotter and looked down at her shoes.

'Your hands are cut badly...' He took out his wand and traced over her cuts with it, muttering an incantation. Then he siphoned the blood away with his wand.

'Thanks, James.' she muttered, still llooking at her feet.

'You did it again.' He said, looking dazed.

'What?'

'You called me James.'

'Is it that weird?' Lily asked nervously.

'No, it's a welcome change.' James said grinning at her.

A reluctant smile made it's way onto Lily's face as they walked back to their dormitory.


	5. Hermione's Third Entry

**Hermione**

A/N:Again, sorry, but this will be the last Hermione entry for a bit. Don't worry, it'll probably only be 2 chapters before the next one.

And just a warning, I've lost my muse (again.) and I've got a part-time job so it might be a while before I get around to updating again. (But rest assured that I _will_ update before summer holidays are over.)

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter and co. belong to J.K. Rowling.

---

Hermione was curled up on one of the red, overstuffed couches that decorated the Head common room with a book in her hands as usual. Ever since discovering the seemingly endless amount of books on the bookshelves, she had taken to spending her lunch times and free periods on this couch reading.

She looked up briefly when she heard Harry clambering clumsily through the portrait hole. 'Hey, Harry.' she greeted him smiling, before turning back to her book.

'Hey,' he said, collapsing on the couch beside her. 'What're you reading?'

'I...' Hermione considered lying to him about the subject of the book in question, but decided he would see the cover soon enough anyway. 'I found this excellent book on Quidditch...' She trailed off, blushing.

Harry laughed. 'I wasn't under the impression that you were interested in Qudditch.' He had always assumed she only attended Gryffindor's games to cheer on himself and Ron.

Her blush deepened and she muttered something about 'wanting to see what all the fuss was about.'

'Do you mind if I read with you?' Harry asked, not able to pass up the opportunity to learn more about Quidditch.

'Not at all...'

They inched closer together so that both could read the words written in the book. Hermione regretted her decision immediately. In their current position, Harry's breath was tickling the side of her face as he read the book intently. She was torn between telling him to bugger off and trying to move closer to him so that-

'_Wait a minute.' _Hermione thought, her eyes no longer at the book, but instead on the side of Harry's face. This was Harry. Her best friend since first year! Why on earth would she be thinking about moving closer to him and ruffling that already messy mop of black hair...

_'Oh my god._' Was she just thinking that? This was insanity. They were platonic friends. '_Platonic. Platonic. Platonic.'_ Hermione repeated in her head as a sort of chant.

In fact, the idea of being romantically involved with Harry was laughable. Actually laughable. And without further ado, Hermione began to laugh at the thought, forgetting that Harry was still reading the book beside her, and that he had given her no reason to laugh as she did.

'What's wrong?' asked Harry, looking concerned.

'_The idea of you and me getting together.'_ Hermione thought, still laughing uncontrollably, though she could find nothing humorous in the situation. 'Nothing.'

Harry shot her a weird look before turning the page.

Hermione kept on laughing, sure that if she stopped some horrible truth would come out of her mouth in its stead. She collapsed against him still laughing while trying to catch her breath at the same time.

'Excuse me, Hermione but I'm trying to read!' Harry said indignantly.

Hermione stopped laughing for a second and looked at him with a shocked expression on her face. 'What? You're... serious?'

Harry just nodded, his eyes still on the book.

Hermione's laughter turned genuine at the absurdity of Harry wanting to read a book she could not even focus on.

Harry shot her a withering glare before closing the book and storming up the stone staircase leading into his dorm.

'Harry! Wait!' Hermione yelled after him, the insane laughter finally dying. She ran up the stone staircase and was halfway up when the red carpet flew out from underneath her feet, throwing her off.

Hermione landed on her bottom a few yards away and blinked. She dusted herself off and walked up to the staircase slowly and deliberately.

'You are not serious.' she said to the staircase in a voice of determined calm. 'You have got to be bloody kidding me! We share a _bathroom. _A bathroom!' She proceeded to point a shaking finger at the staircase. 'If we really wanted to bloody shag you would not be able to stop us!'

'Hermione?' Harry said, poking his head out of his bedroom door looking amused.

'Harry?'

'Are you lecturing my staircase on logic?'

'I believe I am.'

Harry grinned.

'Carry on.'

---

**September 7, 1997**

_'Dear Diary,_

_I am having a terrible crisis. I am having most inappropriate thoughts about my __platonic__-' _Hermione underlined this word several times to emphasize to herself how important the word was _'-friend, Harry Potter._

_I mean, sure he's good looking. Half the girls at Hogwarts would give their wand arm to be with him, but its never affected __me__ before! I've always been completely impervious to his charming, slightly lopsided grin, the untameable black hair and those eyes! Those bloody eyes that drive me __insane__-' _Again Hermione unerlined this word several times to show herself how insane Harry's eyes drove her. _'-I can always feel it when they're on me, and I try my best not to meet them whenever possible, but they FORCE me to turn around and look at him. THEN they promptly mesmerize me, leaving me completely incoherent and-'_

At this, Hermione abruptly stopped. Her whole diary entry had been complete blasphemy.

_'None of this is true!'_ she thought, looking at the page in distate. She decided to get some well deserved sleep (She had spent all her nights reading until she could no longer keep her eyes open.) then, after her mind was clear, she would rewrite that entry so that it would be more truthful to her feelings. She set her quill and diary down on her bedside and curled into a ball on her bed and fell asleep.

---

'Look at this!' Harry exclaimed, pointing at a page in the book he and Ron were poring over. 'It says the Chudley Cannons haven't won a game in over a century!'

Ron flushed. 'They're due then. By the way, shouldn't you be going back to your dorm? It's almost curfew.'

Harry checked his watch. 'You're right. I better return this book to Hermione anyway.' With a quick wave to Ron, Harry climbed out of the Gryffindor portrait hole and headed for the portrait of Sir Cadogan.

After a few flights up and down stairs and through hallways and corridors, he finally found the portrait of Sir Cadogan near tthe Divination classroom. 'Asphodel' he gasped out, still out of breath from rushing there.

Sir Cadogan didn't look impressed. 'Have you got any identification on you?'

'Identi- what?' asked Harry, perplexed.

'You see. I've decided to tighten up security around here.' Sir Cadogan said smoothly. 'You're going to need more than a password to get in, sonny.'

'What?' Harry repeated, not quite believing his ears.

'_Identification._' Sir Cadogan repeated, sounding out each syllable slowly.

'B-but- Surely you recognize me!' Harry spluttered.

'Sorry, lad, but I just can't let _everyone_ claiming to be Potter in.'

Harry wondered exactly how many Harry impostors the knight had seen. 'But I know the password! You have to let me in!'

'Common knowledge these days.' The knight said dismissively.

'What is the point,' Harry said through gritted teeth. 'Of having a password if you're not going to accept it?'

'I-'

But before Sir Cadogan could get another word in edgewise, another idea came to Harry. If he could somehow alert Hermione that he was trapped outside, she could open the portrait from the inside to let him in. Of course, this was assuming Hermione was already inside.

But before all that, Harry had to figure out a clever plan to communicate with Hermione. Perhaps Hedwig? Or maybe a house elf?

'_Oh sod it, I'll just shout for her until she comes outside to see who is making the racket.'_

'Hermione!' Harry yelled, banging his fists against Sir Cadogan's portrait for good measure. '_Hermione!_'

'Now really!' Sir Cadogan spluttered. 'You're smudging a priceless work of art-'

_'Hermione!_'

---

After 10 minutes of Harry's incessant yelling, Sir Cadogan let him in, complaining of a headache.

Harry looked around the common room but it was empty except for Hermione's school bag which was lying haphazardly on one of the common room couches.

Harry shrugged, figuring that Hermione must be upstairs in her bedroom. He climbed the spiral staircase leading to Hermione's room but halfway up the steps, the staircase seemed to decide it did not trust Harry in Hermione's room any more than it trusted Hermione in Harry's. The gold carpet covering the stone steps flew out from under his feet and Hary lost his balance, falling backwards down the staircase, hitting his head on the steps.

'Ow!' he grumbled, rubbing the back of his head gingerly. Still grumbling, Harry picked himself up from the floor and climbed the staircase leading to his dorm, deciding to enter Hermione's bedroom through the adjoining bathroom as Hermione had pointed out the day before.

He crossed his bedroom and opened the wooden door leading to the bathroom. The Head bathroom was much bigger than the usual dormitory bath. A black, marble counter ran nearly the entire length of a wall, stopping briefly at a plain, white toilet. A mirror was placed above the counter and two sinks in it. Harry rather thought that whoever had designed the room had given the Heads a great deal of counter space, possibly for all the cosmetic products they were sure the Head Girl would have. However, the only objects Hermione had placed on the counter was a rather vicious looking toothbrush (Her parents' doing most likely), a soap dish housing a bar of nice smelling, green soap, a solitary hair brush which still had strands of her bushy, brown hair stuck to it, and lastly she had placed yellow stickie notes on the mirror and had written helpful remiders to Harry on them (One above the sink read 'Note to Harry: Wash hands'). Harry smiled fondly at this. Hermione was most definitely not the typical Head Girl.

Across the room from the counter was a large, white bathtub (_'Possibly big enough for two.'_ Harry found himself thinking, despite himself) and next to the tub was a large, glass shower stall. And near this shower stall was another plain, wooden door directly across from Harry's. He walked up to Hermione's door, hesitating a second, before knocking.

There was no response from inside the room. Harry frowned before pushing the door open.

Moonlight was streaming into the room, lighting up Hermione's possesions. The wooden vanity each of them had in their rooms was being used as an extra bookshelf. Hermione's study table was covered in parchment, quills and large stacks of books. Harry walked over to see what she was last writing and found an essay Hermione had apparently doing for fun titled 'Why House Elves Should Be Freed.'

There was a soft snore from behind him and Harry whirled around. Hermione was sprawled on her bed, sound asleep. The light coming from the window was lighting up her features and turning her hair odd colors. Harry set down the Quidditch book on one of the piles on Hermione's study table before walking quietly over to Hermione and sitting on the edge of her bed. He glanced at her bedside table and saw a picture of himself, Hermione and Ron at the Burrow, an alarm clock and, Harry felt his heart rate quicken at the sight, Hermione's leather bound diary.

Harry reached for it and stared at the cover for a few seconds. His fingers traced over the word 'Diary' which was engraved in large, gold letters on the cover, wondering if he would dare to read the contents. He knew how important diaries were to people - Tom Riddle had thought enough of his to store a piece of his soul inside - Hermione's diary would be no different. At the same time, however, he couldn't help but wonder about the thoughts she didn't share with him. Her fears, aspirations and... love life...

Harry's hand automatically clenched around the diary. He had been curious about the mysterious Paul Pineapple since he had first heard about him. What did this muggle with a strange name do to win over Hermione's heart? She had seemingly met him over the summer and fallen head over heels for him. Harry wanted to know what he could have possibly done...

'_Perhaps he didn't read her diary?' _a snide voice in Harry's head said. Harry sighed, making his decision. He made to put the diary back on Hermione's bedside table when-

'Harry, you're such a tease!' Hermione murmured, laughing in her sleep.

'_Sod it. I need to know why she thinks I'm a tease.'_ Harry thought, stuffing the diary into his robes.

Then, with a wicked smile, he leant over Hermione's sleeping form and whispered. 'How am I a tease?'

---

Hermione was having a very strange dream. She decided it was caused by stress coupled with a lack of sleep. In the dream, she and Harry were standing in a stone room completely empty save for themselves. Harry would repeatedly look in her direction, catch her eye, then look away smiling.

Hermione nervously wondered if he was laughing at something on her face. Instantly, a mirror appeared in front of her and she stared at her reflection. Her face was clean, there was nothing in her hair, and her uniform hung neatly over her frame.

She felt his green eyes piercing into her skin again. Finally fed up with his behaviour Hermione said exasperatedly, 'Harry you're such a tease!'

Suddenly Dream-Harry (For this was most certainly a dream) was by her side in an instant. His hot breath was tickling her face.

'How am I a tease?'

Merlin, she hadn't meant for him to take her comment so seriously. She had to swallow several times before she could finally respond, still not looking at him. 'Well you keep staring at me then looking away.' Hermione said indignantly, playing with her sleeve. 'It's rather annoying, to be honest.'

Harry chuckled in her ear. 'Was I staring at you?' He murmured, distractedly playing with a stray strand of her hair.

'Yes, and now your hand is in my hair!' Hermione said, feeling exasperated. 'It's disorienting!'

Harry did not appear to hear her. 'I'm disorienting you?' He asked thoughtfully, now twirling the strand of hair around his finger.

'That's what I just-'

This dream felt entirely too real. Hermione could actually feel Harry's breath on her face and hand in her hair. She opened her eyes groggily and found Harry leaning over her. Hermione blinked rapidly, willing Dream Harry away, but realised with a jolt that this was the _real_ Harry. Harry did not seem to notice she was awake. He was staring out her bedroom window, deep in thought, still twirling a strand of Hermione's hair around his finger. Hermione quickly closed her eyes and pretended she was asleep. Harry leaned close to her ear again and said 'Do you have... er... _feelings_ for... me?'

'Yes, of course,' Hermione murmured in what she hoped was a sleepy manner. 'I feel you are a prat who preys on young girls while they are most vulnerable.'

Harry swore and jumped away from her bed. Unfortunately, he lost his balance and fell backwards for the second time that night.

Hermione sat up in her bed and found Harry sprawled on the floor, looking up at her in a reproachful manner. An _adorably_ reproachful manne-

'What are you doing, Potter?' she said angrily.

He looked equally angry, though an unpleasant flush was creeping its way onto his face.

'You called me a _tease_, Hermione!' he shouted.

Hermione's eyes widened and she clamped a hand over her mouth.

'What?' she whispered.

'I was returning your book and then I heard you say 'Harry you're such a _tease_.''

Hermione blushed. Why had she said that stupid comment?

_'Why? Why? Why?'_

She burried her face into her pillows, feeling mortified. A groan of bedsprings alerted her that Harry had sat down on the bed beside her.

'You don't really think I'm a tease, do you?' Harry asked thoughtfully.

'No Harry.' Hermione said, her pillows muffling her voice.

There was a lengthy pause.

'And... the...' Harry cleared his throat. 'The stuff before that?'

Hermione realised he must have heard the 'You disorient me' comment as well. In any case, it was easier to lie to him through the pillow.

'I didn't mean a word of it.'


	6. Lily's sort of entry

**Lily**

A/N: Wow. I nearly missed the dead line I had set for myself. Haha. Apparently I have the attention span of a cabbage. Well school is nearly starting for me, so I guess you could expect less updates (Even less, I mean). But after this chapter there will be one more Lily chapter and then I'll start Hermione entries again.

Speaking of Hermione entries, I only got 3 (Well, if you want to get technical, six) reviews last chapter. Was it badly written? Do you just not like H/Hr? I don't want to sound like those authors who are addicted to reviews, but I can't help but think maybe something was wrong with the last chapter. So some feedback would be nice and thanks to the four who reviewed last chapter; sarena678, xunwrittenx, Lyni Potter and pstibbons.

Anyway, enough of my review ramblings. On with the story.

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter and co. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

---

Remus Lupin walked into the Great Hall groggily. It was six in the morning but Remus found that he could no longer fall back to sleep after discovering that Sirius had snuck into his bed sometime during the night in Animagus form. Distraught would be the mild way to describe Remus' reaction when he pulled back his bed covers and discovered a great shaggy _mongrel_ asleep beside him. The dog was openly drooling on Remus' pajamas. It's mouth was hanging open and its tounge was resting on Remus' arm.

The Great Hall was deserted except for himself and two giggling Hufflepuff girls. Remus dragged his feet across the hall and collapsed on the bench of the Gryffindor table. He quickly made himself a cup of coffee. After the first sip of caffeine, he felt marginally better. Atleast the Great Hall was quiet and he could finally enjoy a peaceful breakfast in which Sirius did not hog all the food at the table and Peter did not spit food in Remus' general direction everytime he spoke. It would have been the perfect breakfast, if only those Hufflepuff girls would stop their _incessant giggling._

As Remus sipped his coffee, he couldn't help but hear the girls' conversation. The Hall was completely quiet save them, after all.

"Did you hear about James Potter and Lily Evans?"

Remus frowned. What had happened this time? His sensitive hearing picked up the rest of the conversation with ease. "No, what happened?" said the second Hufflepuff.

"Well, apparently, Lily was having a real fit last night. Seems she'd finally cracked."

"Not suprising."

"Yeah," the first girl agreed. "She said NEWTS were too much pressure-" Remus sympathized with Lily on this. "-started talking about ending it _all_." The girl emphasized with relish.

"No!"

"Yes!" The first girl squealed excitedly. "So she ran up to the Astronomy Tower and climbed up on the ramparts-" At this, Remus inhaled half of his coffee and started spluttering and coughing. 'Lily commited suicide?' he thought frantically.

He felt the two girls give the back of his head inquiring looks before resuming their story.

"Luckily James found her in time and tried to talk her out of it-" Both girls emitted dreamy sighs. "-But she wouldn't listen. So she jumped off the Astronomy Tower!"

Both Remus and the second Hufflepuff gasped audibly.

Remus found himself listening with bated breath as the girl continued, "Then - would you believe it - Lily got cold feet. She grabbed onto a window ledge screaming bloody murder."

"So _that's_ what that was. Thought there was a rogue banshee out on the grounds."

'Ah,' Remus thought wryly. 'That's probably what drove Padfoot out of his bed and into mine.'

"Yeah, so James jumps on a broom and saves the poor girl. Then he brought her back to the top of the Astronomy Tower where you could only imagine what happened."

"You know, I saw them walking together when I was coming back from detention last night," said the second girl thoughtfully. "They looked _much_ friendlier to each other. D'you think-"

"Yeah" said the first girl sadly. "I think they finally got together."

"Too bad. That James has a fine arse-"

"Shh!" The first Hufflepuff said imploringly "I think that's one of his friends there."

"The quiet one?" The second girl abruptly dropped her voice down to a whisper. Fortunately, Remus' lycanthropy had given him a sharp hearing and he picked up on the rest of her sentence. "I heard they found _him_ in a closet with Sirius Black-"

At this, Remus inhaled the rest of his coffee and began coughing and spluttering.

---

"Oi James!" shouted Sirius Black while heading over to a messy-haired figure slumped in an armchair by the fireplace with Remus and Peter at his heels. "Guess what Saturday is!"

James merely mumbled something incomprehensible and attempted to sink further in the armchair.

"You're not guessing!" Sirius pouted.

"I know what Saturday is." James said, looking morose. "'S a Hogsmeade weekend."

Sirius clapped his hands together excitedly. "So, when are you going to ask?"

He was referring to the monthly event of James asking Lily out which always resulted in a scene and tyrade from the redhead. The week before Hogsmeade weekends, crowds would follow James around, waiting for him to ask and consequentially get rejected. People used to take bets until a pattern formed.

"I-I'm not going to ask." James muttered.

"What?" Sirius screeched, looking outraged. "It's tradition!"

James glared at his best friend. "Rejection is not a tradition I want to continue."

"But you've got the best odds this time around, James." Peter put in.

"Why?" James asked, sitting up eagerly.

"You saved her life, Prongs!" Sirius said, looking excited once more. "That's got to count for something!"

"Yeah, it should." James said, grinning and nodding vigorously. "I'm going to ask her out tonight!" Sirius looked thrilled.

James made to get up, but Remus pushed him back into his seat looking anxious.

"Don't do it, James." Remus said imploringly. "She'll think you only saved her life for a date!"

Remus had noticed an obvious change in the relationship between the two. They had begun to call each other by their first names, they could converse in a civilized manner and once Remus had caught Lily staring at James in a rather dreamy manner. Remus didn't want to see James ruin all the progress between the two in the course of one night. He hoped for _once_ his friends would listen to him.

"That's utter nonsense, Moony." James said dismissively.

It seems that Remus had no such luck.

And with this, James stood up and walked over to the other side of the common room where Lily sat alone, working.

"Oh, hi, James." Lily said, smiling at James once she'd noticed him.

"Hi, Lily." James siad, seeming to draw confidence from her warm smile. "Saturday is a Hogsmeade weekend-" Lily's smile slid off her face and Remus braced himself for the worst. "-I was wondering if you'd come with me."

"A date?" Lily said, looking dumbstruck.

"Yes."

There was a lengthy silence. Lily's face was unreadable as she stared at James. James stared back looking hopeful. Remus gaped, and the common room seemed to hold its breath. It seemed that, for a second, Lily was going to say yes.

Lily swallowed, her face still unreadable. "Is that why?"

James looked frightened. Remus had been right as always, and he had been too stupid to listen.

"I-I'm sorry. Just... Just forget I asked."

"That's why you saved me, isn't it?" Lily asked quietly.

"That's rubbish, Lily." James said weakly.

Lily tore her gaze away from James' pleading face and onto the desk between them. She could not believe she had been stupid enough to believe James ad actually changed. She felt humiliated and betrayed at the same time and could feel hot tears burning her eyes.

"Believe me, Lily, that's not why-"

She couldn't sit there any longer and listen to him spout lies she desperately wanted to believe.

Mustering up all her courage, she looked into his hazel eyes once more and rearranged her features into a glare. "I don't owe you anything, _Potter._" She gasped out, putting as much venom as she could into the last word. Leaving her books on the table, she grabbed her book bag and fled to the girls' dormitories, tears blurring her vision.

---

Lily sat in her bestfriend, Alice's four poster bed. In her mad dash to escape, she had forgotten she didn't sleep in the girls' dormitories any longer. Her diary was open in front of her but she had only written the date and _'Dear Diary,'_ before her hand began to shake so badly she found she could not write anything legible. Whether her hand was shaking out of anger, embarassment or misery she did not know.

She could hear James calling her name and trying desperately to climb up the stone staircase leading to the girls' dormitories. She heard the disappointed groans of the crowd after another failed attempt. She supposed the right thing to do would have been to listen to what he had to say, but she didn't think she would be able to look at him right now. She just needed some time to sort her thoughts out alone.

The noise downstairs had died down. Perhaps James had taken a particularly nasty fall. Lily hated herself for worrying about his safety. For still caring about him.

She heard footsteps. Guessing it was Alice deciding Lily had had enough alone time, Lily hid her diary back in her robes and wiped her face hastily with her sleeeve. Her jaw dropped open when she saw James Potter standing in the doorway, a broom in his hand. He had a nasty bump on his forehead, barely covered by his messy black hair and he had a slight limp as he walked towards her, indicating some sort of leg injury.

Recovering from her shock, Lily looked away from his face and stared down at Alice's bedspread instead. "Leave me alone, James." She said pleadingly.

He stopped limping at her for a second, considering her request.

"No." he said firmly, making the last few steps and sitting on the edge of the bed near her feet.

"What do you want?" Lily asked exasperatedly. She took a deep breath before looking up at him.

"I want you to know why I saved you last night." He said simply.

"To get a quick date." Lily supplied coldly. She regretted it immediately when she saw his hurt expression.

"That's not why, Lily and you know it." He snapped. Lily couldn't help but flinch. In the times they weren't shouting at each other, James had always spoken softly and kindly to her. He seemed to realize this too because his expression softened as did his tone.

"You can be so bloody stubborn sometimes." He muttered quietly.

Lily glared at him. 'Bloody right, I can, and tonight's not going to be an exception.' Lily thought bitterly to herself.

James sighed and reluctantly started to talk about his... _feelings_. He nearly shuddered at the thought. "When I saw you fall... and... heard you scream..." An unpleasant flush started creeping its way onto his face. Talking about one's feelings was harder than he'd thought. "I thought I lost you forever. For a second I found myself imagining life without you."

He paused, and Lily stared intently at him, curiosity getting the best of her.

James cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I would never see your infamous red hair, never experience the equally infamous temper that goes with it-" This earned him a reluctant smile from Lily. "-No more witty banter... When I thought of all this... Another rather crazy thought popped into my head."

James chuckled feebly at her confused expression. "I thought about jumping after you." Lily's eyes widened at the thought of James commiting suicide because of her, but couldn't help but revel in the Shakespearean tragedy of it all. "But then I knew that you wouldn't want your body mangled by mine." James laughed softly again. "So I forced myself to... check. Then I saw you clinging onto the window ledge and you couldn't imagingehow relieved I was to see you alive."

He paused again, willing her to understand. Lily swallowed. She couldn't help but feel so stupid. How could she have possibly believed that he had only wanted a quick da-

"That's when I realized something. What I-" James cleared his thoat again, looking embarassed. "-_Felt_ towards you was not an ordinary crush... I love you."

"What?" Lily asked, her eyes widening.

"I lo-" He was cut off as Lily launched herself at him, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back, not caring that her knee was pressing down painfully on his injured leg, but instead, wondering if this meant she loved him back. Despite his curiosity, he decided not to push his luck.

Lily opened her mouth as if to say something, but found she couldn't quite pluck up the courage to get those three words out of her mouth. She regretfully closed her mouth again and hoped he would pick up on the words she left unsaid anyway.


	7. Lily's Third Entry

Lily

**A/N:** I'm staying home from school today so I figured now would be as good a time to update as any. Well, here's the second Lily chapter and the next one will be a Hermione one.

Tihs chapter was loads better when I 'wrote' it in my head months, and months ago, but I couldn't remember most of the details I had come up with, so sorry if this chapter is lousy.

Also, sorry if I offend any blondes or otherwise in the chapter.

Thanks to all the reviewers last chapter.

-

**November 3, 1976**

'_Dear Diary,_

_I have very sad news to report. I have reason to believe that James Potter is over me._

_What are my reasons you may ask?_

_Well I shall tell you!_

_Reason 1: __Ever since that night when he confessed his 'love' for me, he has been eating eggs. What is so special about this? Everyone on the face of the earth, dear diary, _knows_ that eggs are the single man's breakfast of choice. I would know - Sirius Black eats it every day along with bacon. __Before what __I shall now refer to as 'that night', James Potter has always chosen a sensible porridge for breakfast. This __can only mean that he is trying to communicate that __he is done with me like he is done with porridge. Those devil eggs practically reek of 'I-am-over-you-so-you-can-stop-fantasizing-about-me-now-thank-you-very-much-that-means-you-Lily-Evans._

_Bloody eggs._

_Reason 2:__ Yes I have more than one reason, thank you very much. I'm not the type to go around jumping to conclusions over nothing. Reason number 2 is his disheveled hair. Yes. Everyday since 'that night' James Potter has been coming down to breakfast with messy hair. No, no - __not just _ordinary _messy hair. This is of the __I-just-had-a-great-shag-last-night-and-I-dont-care-who-knows-it variety. Yes, he is indeed shagging other girls. AND THEN he rolls out of bed without bothering to comb his hair so that the WORLD (I.e: Me) knows he's been shagging girls. _

_Alice has tried repeatedly (Bless her) to convince me that James Potter's hair has looked that way since he was born, but to no avail! I insist that it is messier than ever._

_Atleast Sirius Black combs HIS hair after he's shagged someone._

_Oh look. Here comes that bugger now. No, not Sirius Black. It's the one and only-'_

'Potter.' Lily said in a tone of forced indifference.

'Hello, Lily. Doing homework?" James said cheerfully before sitting down in the seat opposite her and taking out his own school books.

They were at a work bench in the library. Lily had carefully placed a barricade of thick books around herself and her diary so no one would see what she was writing or what she was writing _in_ to be more precise.

_'I've just come up with another reason! Harharhar. I've got you now, Potter._

_Reason 3: He does homework with me. I mean, who do you do homework with? Not future girlfriends, but with just_ friends_. Painfully, irrevocably just friends. I could be Remus Lupin for god's sake for all the attention he gives me._

_Oh my lord. There is a blonde standing right behind him and she is trying to catch his eye._

_Oh no. If he sees her I will lose him forever!_

_Must avert his eyes.'_

'So James,' Lily said loudly, forgetting they were in a library. James looked up from his parchment, looking confused. 'How come you dont eat porridge anymore?' she blurted out.

Lily felt herself redden. Porridge? What was she thinking? You most definitely do not talk about porridge with future boyfriends. Unless ofcourse it was in a dirty sort of way.

'Oh, well, I just... prefer eggs?" James said, his brow now furrowing in confusion.

'Sirius Black eats eggs.' Lily continued rambling while trying to send the blonde behind him a death glare.

'What are you looking at?' James asked, turning around to look over his shoulder. The blonde smiled prettily at him, glad she finally caught his attention. She waved him over and sent a smirk in Lily's direction as he stood up.

_'Oh ho. If that blonde thinks she's getting him that easily she's got another thing coming._

_Look at her, flipping her way in that 'come hither' manner. I can do that!'_

And with that, Lily closed her diary and walked over to where the blonde was shamelessly flirting with James.

'James! We were _studying together._' Lily said in the falsely cheerful voice she always seemed to adopt when talking to him.

'Er, yeah,' He mumbled, his eyes still on the blonde witch.

'Time to fight fire with fire.' Lily thought, taking a deep breath before flipping her hair in an imitation of the blonde. Except... she hadn't really had time to perfect the flip, and so her auburn hair had scattered messily over her face. She felt, rather than saw, the smirk the blonde was giving her and James' confused stare.

'So!' She said, trying to remain cool and nonchalant, despite the fact her hair was still covering most of her face. 'Shall we get back to studying?'

'No,' James said slowly. 'Erm, Natalie here is on the Quidditch team. Apparently one of the Beaters is in the hospital wing with fur covering his face. I should go check it out...'

'Of course!' Lily replied, her voice still sickeningly cheery.

'Are you okay, Lily?' He asked, now sounding worried. 'You've been acting... odd.'

Lily quickly pushed her hair back so she could see his face better. One side of it was red as if her hair had whipped him mid-flip, but he didn't seem to notice. He was looking at her looking distinctly worried for her sanity.

'No,' she said angrily. It was now or never. 'I'm not alright!'

She took a deep breath, working out her words. Yes. She would have to tell him she loved him. It was too late to turn back now.

'I'm not Remus!'

Okay, so those weren't exactly the three words she'd meant to say, but it was too late to take them back now. They hung in the air between her and James followed by an awkward silence.

Lily flushed. She had to run. Maybe she couldn't take back her words, but she could escape the confused look he was now giving her.

'Bye!' She called out before running back to gather her books and bag from the table and running away as fast as she could.

-

'I've ruined it, Alice.' Lily moaned pitifully through a mouthful of chocoloate Remus had given her after she'd stumbled into the common room half blinded by tears.

'It's alright, Lily.' Remus said sympathetically. If he thought the library episode had been funny, he wasn't showing it. 'He'll...'

But apparently, he could not work out exactly what James could or would do after she had proclaimed that she was not Remus to him because he never finished the sentence, but instead offered her more chocoloate.

Alice patted her hand comfortingly. 'I think you should date someone else. Get over him. I heard Justin-'

'I don't want to get over him!' Lily cried, sinking further into the common room chair. 'It's not fair!'

Alice and Remus murmured in agreement.

Then, without warning, Lily sat up and pointed at Remus with a chocolate bar, her green eyes flashing. '_Why_ would he tell me he loved me then come to breakfast with messy hair?'

'I-I don't know Lily, but I think he was born that way.' Remus said, looking taken aback.

Lily sank back down in the chair and bit off a large piece of chocolate. 'It must be in his genetic coding to be a jerk, Remus. You're right.' She mumbled to herself.

'I have an idea, Lily!' Alice said, her eyes lighting up suddenly. 'Tomorrow is a Hogsmeade weekend, right?'

'Ugh. Don't remind me.'

'Why don't you ask some bloke to go with you? Make James jealous, you know?'

Lily sighed. The problem was, there was only one bloke she would want to go with, and she was supposed to be making him jealous.

-

'Hey, Lily. Feeling better?' James asked, looking up from his breakfast. Eggs _and_ porridge, Lily noted.

'You can't have both, Potter.' She snapped.

'What?' He asked. That annoying, confused expression back on his face.

Lily pointed at his breakfast. 'You can't have both eggs _and_ porridge.' Lily said matter-of-factly. 'You've got to choose.'

James shrugged and pushed the plate of eggs away before bringing the porridge closer to him.

'That's better.' Lily said happily, fighting a smile at the thought that he chose sensibility over frivolity

'So, Potter,' she said briskly. 'Today's a Hogsmeade weekend. Who're you taking?'

'No one,' He said, not taking his eyes off the porridge. 'What about you, Lily?'

'No one, either.' Lily said. 'Maybe we should go together.' she suggested, ignoring Alice's scandalised gasp and Remus' reproachful look.

'We should,' James said, swinging his legs off the bench. 'I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall five minutes before noon, okay? I've got some homework to finish.'

The minute he was out of earshot, Alice, Lily, Remus, Peter and Sirius leaned closer together and began whispering frantically.

'You and Prongs, Lils?' Sirius hissed. 'Why was I not informed?'

Lily shrugged, feeling giddy. 'Does this count as a date?'

Alice, Remus, Sirius and Peter all nodded at once, their heads knocking into each other.

'Take him to Zonko's, Lily.' Peter said. 'He likes that place.'

'That is not a date place!' Alice looked scandalised.

'Wear green,' Sirius advised 'He likes that color.'

'Wear something sensible,' Piped up Remus. 'And take him to Honeydukes.'

'He likes that place?' Lily asked.

'No, pick me up some chocolate.' Remus grinned. 'You ate all of mine yesterday.'

Lily sighed and nodded, bumping her head against Alice's.

-

An hour later, Lily was dressed in a sensible, green sweater Sirius and Remus had picked out for her and plain, blue jeans. Alice and Peter had insisted that she leave her hair down since James seemed so fond of it. Despite Alice, Remus, Sirius and Peter's combined objections, she had also brought with her a money pouch. 'Let him pay for everything.' They had insisted.

She was now standing at the foot of the marble staircase in the Entrance Hall feeling nervous.

'Let's go, Evans.' said a voice behind her.

'Hello, James.' Lily squeaked as James pulled her by the arm towards the queue of students waiting for Filch to let them pass into Hogsmeade.

Despite the chatter around them, a distinctly awkward silence hovered over James and Lily.

James cleared his throat awkwardly and Lily looked at her scuffed sneakers.

'Erm,' James said, looking around wildly for something to comment on. Lily looked up at him, finally tearing her eyes away from her shoelaces. 'The sky is... Er... Gray today.' He said stupidly.

'Erm, yeah.'

'Looks like it's going to rain,' James said, wondering why he was commenting on the weather.

Lily looked up at the sky. 'Yeah,'

'That cloud kind of looks like a porpoise racing a train.' She said, squinting her eyes at the cloud.

James looked up too. 'Hey, it kind of does.'

They spent a few minutes pointing out interesting clouds before they finally reached the front of the line.

Filch glared at them and made a show of checking for their names on the roll of parchment he was holding before letting them pass through Hogwarts' iron gates.

'Where do you want to go?' James asked. 'Madam Puddifoot's?' He asked, hoping the answer was 'no'. He shuddered at the thought of all the lace and frills in the shop.

Lily wrinkled her nose. 'No, that place is foul,' She said 'Why don't we go-'

She broke off, noticing the amount of stares they were receiving from passing students. Some people were openly pointing at them before whispering in hushed tones with their companions.

'Let's go somewhere private.' Lily said quickly.

James raised his eyebrows and looked at her suggestively before noticing the staring students as well. 'The Hog's Head it is, then.'

They half ran up the street towards the bar with the tell-tale hog's head on the creaking sign.

Lily wrinkled her nose in distate before stepping through the door James was holding open for her. The floor was covered in a clear inch of dirt, and she could see the barman feeding goats in a corner.

She and James quickly selected a booth beside the grimiest window in the bar so students wouldn't be able to spot them from the street.

'Some date, huh?' He said weakly as Lily traced circles in the dirt on the table.

Lily's eyes snapped up and she looked suprised.

'I mean the term 'date' as in two _friends_ hiding from nosy students.' James quickly amended.

Lily nodded and focused her attention back to her circle drawings. James stared at her for a second before getting up to buy the drinks.

When he came back with two bottles of butterbeer, Lily barely glanced up from her drawing. The circles had been turned into a snowman with a carrot nose and top hat.

When she had added the individual snowflakes and trees to her drawing, she finally looked up at James, unable to ignore him any longer.

'Let's play a game.' she said, trying to fill the silence between them.

James jumped at the sound of her voice. She felt bad for ignoring him for the better part of half an hour. It seemed he had fallen asleep with his eyes open.

'Yeah, sure.' he mumbled sleepily, not even bothering to make some sort of dirty joke.

Lily drummed her fingers against the table trying to think of a game.

'20 questions.' Jame ssaid suddenly, yawning.

Lily shrugged, 'Sure.'

James suddenly grinned. 'Okay I'll go first, favourite color?'

'Turquoise. You?'

'Green. I like your sweater, by the way.' He said, blushing slightly. Lily mentally thanked Sirus. 'Secret post-Hogwarts ambition?'

'To become Minister of Magic,' Lily replied, blushing. 'You?'

'To live in a gingerbread house.' James said grinning. 'Favourite Marauder?'

Lily looked shocked. 'You can't ask me about yourself!'

'There are no rules against it.'

Lily glared at him. 'Remus, then.'

'Now, now, Lily. You aren't supposed to _lie_ in twenty questions.'

Lily snorted, 'And how are you so sure it's not true?'

'Because I'm your favourite and you have to admit it,' James said smoothly.

'You are not!'

'Are so.'

'That was a brilliant rebuttle, Potter.'

'I'm glad you think so, Lily.'

-

'Okay, last question,' James said dramatically. 'And then we must part and return to Hogwarts, each going their seperate ways, unlikely to speak to the other ever again for as long as they li-'

'Get on with it, Potter.'

'Okay' James said, taking a deep breath. 'Do you love me too?'

There was an awkward pause in which they stared at each other across the dirty table. Even the barman seemed to be listening in.

'What?'

'I ask the questions around here, Lily-flower.'

Comprehension suddenly dawned on Lily. 'You play this game every date!'

James didn't quite meet her eyes when he replied, 'I don't know what you're talking about.'

'That's why you suggested it, isn't it?' Lily said, shocked at his evil-mastermindery

'To ask me that question!'

James grinned secretively. 'I'll answers yours if you answer mine.'

Lily glared at him and he stared back.

'Yes,' they both said in unison.

Lily looked at James in shock and he stared back. Then he blinked and said, 'That was a fun game.'

'Indeed it was.' Lily said, not meeting his eyes as she got out of the booth.

They walked together stiffly towards the bar's exit and as he held the door open for her Lily could've sworn she heard the barman chuckling at their foolishness.

-

'Well, this is me.' Lily said, gesturing at the bemused portrait of the Fat Lady.

James raised his eyebrows, 'Me too.'

'Oh, right.' Lily said, mentally slapping herself on the forehead.

James leaned in awkwardly just as Lily turned towards the portrait.

'Sorry I-'

'Did you-'

They both blushed and looked away from each other. Lily at her sneakers again (For they were _fascinating_) and James at the ceiling.

They heard an angry sigh behind them and looked around. The Fat Lady was glaring down at both of them.

'Just kiss already!' She snapped impatiently. 'You are ruining a perfectly romantic moment with your teenage awkwardness.'

Lily and James blinked in suprise. Then, they turned to each other and shrugged in an I-guess-it-can't-be-helped sort of way, before James gave her a quick peck on the lips and hurried through the portrait hole as the Fat Lady swung forward to admit them. As Lily followed him clumsily she heard the Fat Lady mutter 'teenagers' to herself before swinging closed once more.


End file.
